UZH Gender Equality Action Plan 2017-20

The University of Zurich’s second gender equality action plan arose from the swissuniversities program "Equal opportunity and university development 2017-2020" and runs from 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2020.

Contents of Action Plan

This action plan encompasses three main projects as well as various supporting activities and events. The three projects are designed to address both the P7 program aims and the priorities of the UZH Executive Board as set out in the Gender Policy Code of Conduct.

This project looks closely at professorial appointment procedures. It is often assumed that the low representation of women in the professorial staff will simply correct itself over time. However, the University of Zurich has found that the proportion of both female professors and female applicants amount to approx. 23%. Further increases in the representation of female professors are – from a purely mathematical perspective – currently not possible: Waiting will not increase the proportion of women professors.

For this reason, the University of Zurich works with the OTM-R toolkit (Open, Transparent and Merit-Based Recruitment of Researchers) which is a component of the HR Strategy for Researchers (HRS4R) issued by the European Commission (European Research Area, ERA), to increase the proportion of women professors.

Project Manager

PD Dr. Nina Jakoby

Governing Body

Prof. Gabriele Siegert, Vice President for Arts and Social Sciences

Project II: Research Funding and Academic Careers

A significant aspect in building an academic career is the ability to raise research funding. This often has a decisive influence on junior academics' future research careers. Junior researchers at the University of Zurich are generally successful in acquiring third-party funding. However, with several funding instruments, there are noted differences between women and men in terms of their application and success rates. With this project, the University of Zurich aims to systematically identify and take advantage of its possibilities as a potential host institution for externally funded research projects to ensure that junior female researchers in particular do not experience unintended bias in acquiring funding.

Project Manager

Governing Body

Project III: New Organization Models for Part-Time Management Positions at the University of Zurich

Members of the professorial staff hold leadership positions in their academic fields and also serve as university managers. Reducing the work load of these positions is rarely feasible. This project, therefore, seeks new models to improve work-life integration for UZH management staff with family/care or other responsibilities. Among other things, the project explores organizational models in place at other universities and as well as in the private sector.